LONELY THE BRAVE – ‘THINGS WILL MATTER’

"Few, if any, bands are really bleeding on record like this any more."

Following a debut as monolithic as ‘The Day’s War’ was never going to be easy. A lesser band might have botched it. A lesser band might have made the same record again. Lonely The Brave are not that band.‘Things Will Matter’ is a dense collection of music. It demands love, care and attention for its rewards to be fully revealed. Because where the Cambridge five-piece often couched their meanings in metaphor previously, this time they’ve gone positively esoteric.

But in David Jakes’ voice – still the glittering jewel in the band’s collective crown – there’s no mistaking the feelings, the utter fucking hurt that obviously brought his words into being. At times a siren that rises and rises above the cacophony (‘Black Mire’, ‘Rattlesnakes’), at others a kind of somber sob that rumbles along when delicacy requires (the gorgeous ‘Diamond Days’), his is a rare and special talent.

Few, if any, bands are really bleeding on record like this any more. And that counts for a whole hell of a lot more than whatever this month’s flavour is.

Lonely The Brave haven’t just succeeded in proving they were no one trick wonders here, they’ve gone and pulled another rabbit from the hat.